Add support for HDV camera input to Wirecast 4

If you are using an HDV video camera or video capture device with HDV mode enabled this plug-in allows Wirecast to receive the signal from your HDV device. You can get a better picture quality when using an HDV camera. However the plug-in does not unlock any HD broadcast settings. Wirecast is already capable of sending and recording HD broadcasts assuming that the computer can handle it.

This plug-in requires that you already have a Wirecast license and that you choose the same Operating System for this plug-in as that Wirecast License.

NOTE: HDV camera input support is included in the PRO version:  Wirecast PRO 4

Who needs the HDV plug-in?

Anyone who is using an HDV video camera or video capture device with HDV mode enabled. The plug-in allows Wirecast to receive the signal from your HDV device. You can get a better picture quality when using an HDV camera. However the plug-in does not unlock any HD broadcast settings. Wirecast is already capable of sending and recording HD broadcasts assuming that the computer can handle it.

Will Wirecast work with my HDV camera?

HDV sources are supported in Wirecast 4 Pro.

To use HDV sources with Wirecast 4 standard, you'll need to buy a Wirecast 4 license and the Wirecast HDV option. Note: All versions of Wirecast prior to version 4 require purchase of the Wirecast HDV option to enable HDV camera input support.

If you are experiencing issues with HDV sources with Wirecast 4 standard please make sure you have selected the same operating system version as your existing Wirecast license when purchasing HDV. This means the Mac OS X HDV Option will not work with the Windows version of Wirecast for example.

Note: You can evaluate HDV camera performance in Wirecast without purchasing the HDV Option, the output will just be watermarked.

HDV decoding and system resources
HDV decoding requires significant system resources. As such we recommend that, on the Mac, you use at least a dual processor G5 system or dual core Intel CPU. On the Windows side, we recommend a modern graphics card and a dual processor (or core) system.

If you find that HDV is consuming too many system resources, here are some ways to reduce the load:

• Try switching the 'Aspect Ratio' from '1080 HDV' to '720 HDV'. This will reduce the burden on the graphics card, and may make transitions and other effects smoother. You can switch to this regardless of whether your camera supports 720p mode, since it will just reduce the processing resolution.
• Switch the 'Capture Device Size' to 'Reduced'. This will halve the amount of data being processed in exchange for slightly lower quality. We recommend experimenting with this setting to determine if the final results are acceptable.
• Using both of the above methods will bring down the processing requirements significantly. As always, we recommend experimenting with your own setup to find the best results.

When working with HDV sources, you may find there is up to two seconds of delay from the video first being captured by the camera, to it showing up in Wirecast. This is a hardware limitation on some of the first generation HDV cameras and cannot be corrected by Wirecast. You can compensate for this by only trusting the video and audio you are seeing in Wirecast, and using the Wirecast Preview as the source for all your live cues.